Botanical classification/cultivar designation: Gypsophila hybrida cultivar Summer Snow.
The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Gypsophila plant, botanically known as Gypsophila hybrida, grown commercially as a potted or landscape plant, and hereinafter referred to by the name xe2x80x98Summer Snowxe2x80x99.
The new Gypsophila is an induced mutation of an unidentified proprietary selection of Gypsophila hybrida, not patented. The proprietary selection is the product of a open-pollination of Gypsophila hybrida Iron Gypsophila as the female, or seed, parent, not patented, and an unknown cultivar as the male, or pollen parent. Cuttings from chemically treated plants were planted and the new Gypsophila was discovered and selected by the Inventor in 1998 in a controlled environment in Delft, The Netherlands, as a single flowering plant among a population of plants. Plants of the new Gypsophila differed from plant of the proprietary selection in flower size and inflorescence form.
Asexual reproduction of the new Gypsophila by cuttings taken at Delft, The Netherlands, has shown that the unique features of this new Gypsophila are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Summer Snowxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Summer Snowxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Compact, upright and outwardly spreading plant habit.
2. Freely flowering habit.
3. Many-petalled white-colored flowers arranged in compact and dense compound cymes.
4. Good post-production longevity.
In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Delft, the Netherlands plants of the new Gypsophila are more compact and have more compact and denser cymes than plants of Iron Gypsophila. In side-by-side comparisons conducted in Delft, the Netherlands, plants of the new Gypsophila have shorter and narrower leaves, smaller flowers, stronger flower stems, and more compact cymes than plants of the cultivar Magic Golan disclosed in U.S. Plant Pat. No. 9,257.
Plants of the new Gypsophila differ from plants of the Gypsophila cultivar Blancanieves, disclosed in a U.S. Plant patent application Ser. No. 10/303,495 filed concurrently, primarily in plant habit as plants of the cultivar Blancanieves are taller and typically grown as cut flowers.
The cultivar Summer Snow has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature and light intensity, without, however, any variance in genotype.